Technology: Living doll puts young ones off parenthood

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that teenagers' lives and education can be disrupted by unwanted pregnancies. But it took one to invent a doll so realistic that it might reverse the growing trend of unwanted teenage pregnancies in the US. Rick Jurmain, an unemployed aerospace engineer in San Diego, has invented an 'infant simulator' filled with electronics that cause it to cry at random intervals, and continue to cry until it is held and 'nursed'. Preliminary results indicate that it mimics many of the stressful aspects of a newborn child in ways that teenage 'parents' can understand.

Jurmain starts with a vinyl doll weighing about four kilograms, and adds a timer and randomiser that make it cry loudly at intervals ranging from 90 minutes to 4 hours. 'The only way to get it to stop crying,' he says, 'is to pick it up and hold it in ...

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